Emilia Clarke's Main TV Roles

Main Movie Roles

Guest TV Roles

Emilia Clarke (born May 1, 1987) is an English actress, best known for her role as Daenerys Targaryen in the HBO series Game of Thrones for which she has received an Emmy Award nomination.

Born in London and grew up in Berkshire with her parents, her father is a theatre sound engineer, and her mother is a businesswoman. She has one younger brother. Clarke's interest in acting began at the age of three after seeing the musical Show Boat, on which her father was working at the time. She was educated at St Edward's School, Oxford from 2000 to 2005, and Rye St Antony School. She then studied at Drama Centre London, graduating in 2009.

Clarke's early work includes two plays at St. Edwards, ten plays at Drama Centre London, the 2009 Company of Angels production of Sense, and a 2009 commercial for Samaritans. Her first television roles were Saskia Mayer in a 2009 episode of Doctors and Savannah in Syfy's 2010 film Triassic Attack. Screen International magazine named her as one of the "UK Stars of Tomorrow".

In 2010, Clarke was cast as Daenerys Targaryen in the HBO medieval fantasy series Game of Thrones which is based on the book series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin. She was cast after fellow British actress 'Tamzin Merchant' was replaced for undisclosed reasons. She did the funky chicken and robot dance during the audition. The show debuted in April 2011 to positive reviews and was quickly picked up by the network for a second season. Clarke won the 2011 EWwy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama for her role as Daenerys. In 2013, she was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series at the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards. She was voted the most desirable woman in the world by Askmen readers in 2014.

In 2012, Clarke appeared in Spike Island, a film named after the location of The Stone Roses' seminal 1990 gig. From March to April 2013, Clarke made her Broadway debut in Breakfast at Tiffany's as Holly Golightly. In May, it was announced that she had joined the feature film Garden of Last Days.

In December 2013, Clarke was cast as Sarah Connor in 2015's Terminator: Genesis.